Look Who's Talking Now...

Last year I delivered a plenary talk entitled "Let the students do the talking..." which stimulated lot of debate. I spoke of my experiences at Edge Hill University and the success we'd had as a result of a more 'open' approach to Web content and services. In general the community were encouraged by our approach and many claimed to find it inspiring yet others, from the larger and research-led Universities, suggested "... it all sounds very good but Edge Hill is a new University so it HAS to focus on marketing... it's different for us".

So twelve months on and now sitting on the other side of the fence, working in a research-led institution at the University of Bath, I will reflect on my previous talk and report on whether or not my approach and vision has changed. I'll be answering the questions many of you wish to ask: Is it just 'easier' to get things done in a new University? Should your vision for the web be dictated by the type of institution you are? Having moved to a research-led University am I now eating my words?